Dr. Edward C. Krecker and his wife, Judith Anne, moved into their Oriental-style home at 6001 Crescent Shore Drive on Ascot Point in 1993 and loved it. Hurricane Katrina swept away the waterfront home on the Jackson-Harrison County line.
"We don't have any inclination to build back," he said Tuesday. "We have other activities, including time with our three children and eight grandchildren, rather than building another house."
They relocated, from what had been a unique, three-peaked redesigned summer home, to a home in Fort Bayou Estates in Ocean Springs.
Their Biloxi home was on pilings with 14-foot elevation for the first floor. Since the bottom part had taken some water in Hurricane Georges, Krecker moved his truck and riding mower north to a friend's home. They still were flooded.
After Katrina they found a few bits and pieces from the destruction. Someone found a book of his retirement photographs four blocks away.
"Our 4-year-old granddaughter found some wrapped china we bought while in the military in Thailand," he said. "Every piece was intact. We had only used it once."
Krecker served in the Army during the Vietnam war, and after he ended a general medical practice, he took a pathology residency and became chief of pathology at the Veterans Administration Hospital. After 19 years in the Mississippi Air National Guard, then-Congressman Sonny Montgomery promoted him from colonel to brigadier general.
"After the storm, Judith Anne (a retired nursing instructor at Jeff Davis Community College) called our children and joked to them, 'We are starting over, dad at 30 and me at 22,'" said Krecker, who is 73. "The kids only response was, 'Are you going to have more children?'
The Kreckers, who are active in charities, have taken the storm in stride. "You rationalize," he added. "You lost things that were a reflection of you and your life, good times and bad times. Those are gone but you go on."
They were able to buy a home at 4006 Densinane St. from a retired Hurricane Hunter family that moved. The couple has spent many months giving the home an Oriental touch.
"It's not yet home," he admits but is quick to say, "We are so blessed. Those in tents and shelters remain in our prayers."